1. Field of the Invention
The technical scope of the present invention is that of medium and large caliber weapons, and more particularly ammunition percussion devices positioned in such weapons.
2. Description of the Related Art
The equipment of military vehicles necessitating the use of weapons integrated into a turret increasingly requires the use of a fire control able to ensure, at all times, the control in space of the position of the gun barrel, be the carrier at rest or in movement.
This constraint of having to ensure the firing of a turreted weapon with a carrier in movement, whilst retaining a high probability of reaching the target, obliges both the position of the barrel in space as a function of time and also the projectile launching time to be controlled.
Present-day weapon mechanisms generally carry out firing in two phases; a first phase in which the ammunition is pushed into position and triggered by pressing on the fire control and a second percussion phase of the ammunition triggered by a computer verifying that the gun barrel is aligned with the objective when the projectile exits the barrel.
The percussion of the ammunition implements a cam whose geometry firstly enables the compression of spring means and secondly the release of the firing pin.
A major drawback to these devices lies in the fact that the reaction time between the compression of the spring means and the exiting of the projectile from the barrel muzzle necessarily exceeds a few tenths of a second. This cycle time is not compatible with firing in movement which necessitates a time of a few hundredths of a second between the validation by the computer and the actual percussion of the ammunition.